Rewound Future
by hersheys-apprentice
Summary: After the heart-breaking events of Unwound Future, Claire and Layton say their final farewells. But it is later found out that Claire is still alive! Will she return to Layton even after all the pain she had recently caused him? Spoilers for Unwound Future!
1. Chapter 1: Is This Good-bye?

**_Disclaimer: Professor Layton and all the characters do not belong to me! They belong to Level 5! I am not even close to being awesome enough!_**

___This Fanfiction is just an alternate ending for Unwound Future. I made it up because the ending of the game is so sad and I wanted to make a happy ending where Claire doesn't die! YAY! So without further ado_, here is the first (and kinda short) chapter/prologue of Rewound Future! Please review!____

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**Chapter**** 1: Is This Good-bye?**

It was a dark and quiet night. A young woman, literally glowing, stood with a man in a small alleyway. Silent, whispered voices could be heard from the two. Both were attempting to hold back their sorrowful tears, but to no avail. Tears began to slowly form in the woman's eyes as she spoke to the man before her.

"I- I'll miss you and our… unwound future…"

It was too much for him. He tried to fight the tears. He tried to keep his gentleman-like stature, but for the first time in who knows how long… it broke. It just broke into a million bits and fell into the pile of his shattered dreams.

"You **can't **go!" he called out, startling the woman, "I don't want to say 'good-bye' again- I can't- I **WON'T**!"

There was a pause. both were silently processing what the man had just exclaimed. She then smiled the sweetest, most gentle smile and responded,

"I know you. and I know you'll stay strong. After all, that's what a gentleman does. I must go now, Hershel. Thank you for everything… Good-bye."

The woman, Claire Foley, walked away and turned around a corner. Luke Triton ran after her immediately but she had disappeared, and was sent to her own time… to her death.

"She's gone!" he cried out, sadly.

Professor Hershel Layton turned around, his back to Luke, and for the first time in a long time, he removed his top hat. He looked up to the sky, and wept for his lost sweetheart who had passed away so recently yet so long ago. He walked away silently to his apartment with Luke by his side. But unknown to either of the two, a small flicker of light appeared for a short moment in that dark corner.


	2. Chapter 2: A Startling Discovery

**AN: **_I apologize for the almost 2-year wait for a new chapter. My Writer's Block was serious! But i will try to post new chapters for this fanfic with less time gaps between them from now on. Hope you enjoy!_

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**Chapter 2: A Startling Discovery**

Claire awoke, scared and cold. She didn't dare to open her eyes; she knew what awaited her. She was back in her time, 10 years before; the day of the experiment. She waited, bracing herself for what was coming, but nothing happened... yet. _Maybe I'm early, Its only a matter of seconds before the explosion_

Memories flashed through her head; the day of the explosion. She was with Hershel, the last time she would share a cup of tea. A few exchanges of scientific terms amongst the scientists. She walked to the machine and... **Boom** All those screams heard, the cries of the bystanders and the walls of the building came crashing down. She had witnessed all this as the machine was bringing her to the future, flashing between the two timelines, unstabling her cells.

Claire had tried so hard to be strong for Hershel when they had to say goodbye. Hershel had his own struggles to let her go, but, of course Claire had her own. She had to hold them inside or it would have been harder for him. But she was going to die. She knew that when she was sent to the future; that it wouldn't last. She had studied enough of science to know that she was unstable. Every minute that she lived in the future could have been her last. And, of course, this terrified her immensely.

She cried, but her tears were angry. She was angry at everyone: Dimitri, he was the one who built the faulty time machine. How could he have been so stupid as not to realize that it could never work properly?! He was supposed to be one of the best scientists in their facility! Hershel, yes, she was angry at him too. He let her go. He let her go so many times._ Why did he have to let me go?_ She went to the labs, put herself in danger. She returned to her own time. But he had let her go. _If he had only held on for a little while longer..._ This never would have happened. Most of all though, she was angry at herself. She couldn't blame two of the men who loved her most. She too broke the laws of nature, and she had to pay. She tried to cheat death but it was wrong to escape fate. The time machine was built, and many died. And soon so would she.

So she waited longer. Almost 15 minutes passed, but there was nothing. Slowly opening her eyes, Claire was shocked to see that she was in the Science Lab but there was no Time Machine in sight! It should have been there if she was truly ten years in the past. Perhaps she wasn't sent back, after all. Mixed feelings flowed throughout her head: happiness, of course, not to be dead; terror, because it could only be a few seconds before she is sent back to her time. Confusion, sadness, excitement. All these emotions, not knowing which to lead her.

Suddenly the door opened. A man, wearing a lab coat entered the room, carrying a box of spare machine parts. Seeing Claire, he dropped the box in surprise, the parts scattered on the floor. The scientist was Dimitri Allen, the one from her future!

"**Claire?!**" Dimitri asked, still in shock, "how can you still be here? I thought you were sent back to-"

He paused, with a look of concern on his face. He was a scientist, and he was sure Claire was going to go back to her time. But she didn't, she was still here. He didn't know how long it would last.

"If you don't mind," Dimitri began, "we're going to have to run the some tests to measure your molecular stability"

Claire nodded, and soon she was hooked up to a machine. This was familiar to her, as Dimitri had run these tests on her when he found out she survived the Time Machine Explosion. They both exchanged some scientific terms and and ran different tests, when they reached a startling conclusion...


	3. Chapter 3: Work Relations

**AN: **_Sorry again for the wait. Finals are coming up and I'm trying to focus on my schoolwork. I'll definitely try to get the next chapter ASAP! But just letting you all know that that's why I've been taking awhile to continue. Thank You!_

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**Chapter 3: Work Relations**

There were many pages of graphs, charts, and what might look like scribbles to non-scientists. Dimitri and Claire examined them again closely. Making sure not to make any crucial mistakes to falsely bring their hopes up. They had a result but one can never be too sure. After what seemed like the one hundredth inspection, they had their results.

"According to the calculations we have here," Dimitri stated, "your molecular structure had been completely unstable since the time of the explosion. So you should have been sent back to the past. But your cells seem to have been entirely re-stabilized when you were traveling through the Time Vortex. This brought you back to your future, meaning our present. I do believe that you are here to stay."

Claire was silent for a moment, she wasn't sure if she could truly believe that everything was alright. But it was, she was stable and she could live.

"There's one more thing, however," He stated again, "because your cells were adjusting to this time, they... changed. You are five years older than you were before. They couldn't go far enough for the full ten-year difference, so your body skipped five years. Are you alright?"

Even though he knew that he could never be with Claire, his old work crush, after all that he had done, he still loved her and cared for her. Surely, this would be a lot to swallow, missing five years of her life. And it was, Claire was disheartened, that all those years that could have been spent doing so much more... were gone. But five years compared to a whole life that she can live now that she is stable, it was worth it.

"I'm alright," Claire smiled, "thank you"

"Um, Claire," Dimitri started, blushing "I was wondering if maybe I could take you out for a cup of tea. I know I can never be as close to you as you were with Hershel, but I still care for you."

"Of course," Claire smiled sweetly, "I've always cared about you, Dimitri, and Paul too. You are both so kind at heart, even though you have made mistakes in the past. But I know you, and I know you'll be strong. Show everyone that you are greater than what had happened with Bill Hawkes. It will be hard but you are amazing and I know you can do it.

"I appreciate all that you had done for me, since the explosion. I know it has been hard for you to handle. Thank you for everything," She kissed him on the cheek, "See you soon."

She left the building, remembering what Hershel had said that night "You can't go! I don't want to say 'good-bye' again- I can't- I WON'T!"

Claire was concerned about Hershel; he always had two constants to him: He never takes off his hat, and no matter how dangerous the situation or how nasty someone is to him, he always stays cool, calm, and polite, only switching to a sort of stern if he really has to. Seeing him truly heartbroken, yelling, crying, and unable to accept what is happening for the first and only time hits that much harder because of all this. How has he been handling her 'death' this time?


End file.
